INDIANAPOLIS – After almost two full rounds of exciting back-and-forth action, an errant knee forced a stoppage to Roger Bowling’s fight with Abel Trujillo.

The bout was declared a no-contest after Trujillo stood and delivered a pair of second-round knees, one of which struck the downed Bowling in the head.

The lightweight bout opened today’s UFC Fight Night 27 event at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. It streamed on Facebook ahead of additional prelims on FOX Sports 2 and a main card on FOX Sports 1.

An angry Trujillo immediately protested the referee’s stoppage, which came at the 4:57 mark of the round. Meanwhile, Bowling hit the canvas and writhed in pain before returning to his feet and attempting, unsuccessfully, to reconcile with the Blackzilian fighter.

Because the bout had not entered its third round, it could not be scored on the rounds that already had been completed.

Prior to the unfortunate turn of events, the two scored several times on each other with stiff punches in the fight’s opening round. But the fight also had spilled to the ground, where Bowling excelled in the second round as he worked for a submission.

Trujillo, though, managed to escape and unloaded the illegal strike. Referee Rob Hinds initially said he was going to deduct a point because the knee was intentional, but with Bowling ruled unable to continue and in declaring the bout a no-contest, he subsequently called it accidental.

After the ruling, Trujillo expressed his displeasure in Hinds’ call.

“Both of those knees were legal,” Trujillo said. “I saw he was breaking, and I hit the second knee at the top of his chest. The punch is what really hurt him. He acted his way to a no contest.”

Bowling (11-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) remains winless in the UFC after a KO loss to Anthony Njokuani in his promotional debut, which followed a 4-3 run in the now-defunct Strikeforce promotion. Trujillo (10-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC), meanwhile, hovers at 1-1 after a decision loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in his previous appearance.

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